Edwards just posted the best season of his career, and the NBA still would not let him cash in on it.
Anthony Edwards has spent six years turning himself into one of the most feared scorers in basketball, and last season was supposed to be the one where the rest of the league had to admit it.
He averaged a career-high 28.8 points a game for the Minnesota Timberwolves, shot a career-best 48.9 percent from the field, and won All-Star Game MVP in February.
Then the NBA ruled that none of it counted toward an All-NBA selection, because he did not play enough games to qualify.
Edwards missed a career-high number of games with knee, foot and hamstring issues, fell short of the 65-game minimum for postseason honors, and lost his appeal to get it waived.
Six Years Of Climbing
Edwards has gotten better every season since Minnesota made him the first pick in the 2020 draft, growing from a raw rookie who forced too many shots into a two-time All-NBA Second Team wing who could score 25 points without much trouble.
This past year pushed that climb even further, and his scoring average and shooting splits both jumped to career bests, the type of leap that usually earns a spot on one of the three All-NBA teams without much of an argument.
Instead, the games he missed left him off all three, and he spent part of his exit interview explaining what that stretch felt like instead of celebrating a new honor.
Asked what he learned from the season, he did not bring up a new counter move or a coverage he had figured out.
He talked about sitting out.
"Everything ain't going to come when you want it to come," he said, describing a swollen toe and knee that kept flaring up at the worst times.
Minnesota has spent much of the last few years searching for a real backcourt partner for him, partly because he has been left to create offense mostly by himself.
What Actually Separates Him From The Top
The players ahead of Edwards in this conversation won.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points on 55.3 percent shooting and led Oklahoma City to 64 wins on his way to a second straight MVP, and Victor Wembanyama's Spurs were the team that eliminated the Timberwolves in the second round.
Minnesota finished 49-33 and fell in six games to San Antonio, a step back from the two straight trips to the conference finals that came before it.
The front office reacted fast.
Minnesota sent Julius Randle to Brooklyn in a three-team trade and flipped Naz Reid to Charlotte for LaMelo Ball, finally handing Edwards a table-setting guard instead of another scorer who needs the ball to matter.
Minnesota's front office says it is confident this roster can finally get him past where the last one stalled out, and the pieces at least make more sense on paper.
None of that offseason business changes what is still on Edwards to do himself.
If he plays 65 games and Minnesota wins more than a round in the spring, the top three conversation stops being a debate.
